Grand Rapids, Mich. – The AQ men's volleyball team played its final contest in front of their home fans tonight (Apr. 9) in the Sturrus Center. The Saints battled Lawrence Tech, who are coming off of wins against Indiana Tech and Lourdes this past weekend. LTU continued its win streak this evening after winning the first, second, and fourth sets as the Blue Devils look to fight for a spot in the conference tournament.
Lawrence Tech 3, Aquinas 1 (25-18, 25-13, 18-25, 25-14)
LTU picked up the first two points of the match and never looked back. AQ kept the score within three points for most of the set, but the Blue Devils finally started to pull away near the end. A three-point run gave the visitors a 20-13 edge. AQ managed to pick up a few points, but LTU finished out the set with a seven-point win.
Set number two remained firmly in the grasp of LTU as several runs from the visitors had them up 18-6. A series of Blue Devil errors, a kill from
Connor Staats, and an ace from
Colin Ilagan gave AQ 13 points, but the set concluded with a service error from the Saints.
Lawrence Tech appeared to be in a position to take down the match in three sets, but the Saints rallied back. AQ erased a 10-5 deficit after a 6-1 run that included a trio of kills from Staats. The Saints kept on rolling from that point, scoring eight of the ensuing nine points.
Quinn Silverman assisted on back-to-back blocks just a couple of points later to fully swing the momentum in AQ's favor.
Joseph Koss earned an ace, Staats recorded his fourth kill of the set, and
Chase Gil finished the set to give Aquinas the third-set victory.
Unfortunately, Lawrence Tech rebounded in the fourth set and took 14 of the first 21 points. AQ called a timeout and went on a three-point set out of the timeout, but LTU quickly picked up the pace again. The match concluded after LTU put down three consecutive kills for a 25-14 win.
By the Numbers
AQ led the match in both aces (8-5) and blocks (11-6). However, Lawrence Tech held large advantages in kills, hitting percentage, assists, and digs.
Staats ended the match with a team-leading 13 kills and four aces while also providing an assist, three block assists, and five digs.
Gil led the team with five block assists with a dig, an ace, and four kills.
Up Next
The Saints will wrap up the regular season with a pair of matches against Saint Mary of the Woods. Aquinas will play on Friday (Apr. 12) at 7:00 p.m. and Saturday (Apr. 13) at 3:00 p.m.
